Boinc music streaming service to launch on Android

Spotify is to imminently experience some competition in the Android music streaming market with the launch of Boinc this week. Formerly known as Beyond Oblivion, this New York-based startup is expecting to shake up the music industry with its unique business model.

Part owned by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, Boinc works by licensing music streaming as part of the price of a new smartphone, tablet or even car purchase meaning it is often free at the point of access. It will also be available as a paid-for app for Android and iPhone handsets.

According to The Guardian in March, Adam Kidron, founder and chief executive of Boinc, had claimed negotiations with the four major record labels – Universal, Warner Music, Sony and EMI – were at a “very advanced stage”. These talks had reportedly stalled however, after the labels asked for a larger upfront payment for access to their catalogues. Bionc is now set to pay 70 per cent of its annual revenues to rights holders, that’s on top of a royalty fee for every track played.

Boinc is set to launch in full later this year but will be invite-only for UK and US listeners in October. It’s a clearly a promising service, albeit one for which success will rest on a large number of adopters. There’s also the added gamble of whether smartphone buyers will renew their handsets before the Boinc license stops recording a profit for its owners.

What so you think of the new music streaming service for Android? Would free music streaming be a welcome addition to any new Android purchase. Let Life Of Android know in the comments section below.